PDP BoT Submits Report, Says It’s Inauspicious for Ayu to Resign Now

*Declares chairman’ll go after 2023 elections

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) has submitted its report on the reconciliatory moves in the party, especially, the call for the resignation of the national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, saying it is inappropriate for him to resign at this time.

The BoT said it was not averse to the demand for justice in the party, but maintained that there was time for everything. It assured that Ayu would ultimately have to go after the 2023 elections if Atiku Abubakar won the election.  

A former national chairman of PDP and member of the BoT, Okwesilieze Nwodo, who hinted at the development, said the call for the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, the party’s national chairman, was coming at the wrong time.

According to him, it is “inauspicious” to ask the national chairman to resign months to the 2023 polls.
 Nwodo said Ayu should be allowed to lead the party’s campaigns for the 2023 polls, since he understood the party.
He stated, “Calling for justice, fairness, and equity at any time is right. The situation in our party right now is a call for the resignation of the party chairman as a means of balancing north and south power in our party.

“At the meeting of the board of trustees, we (referring to a committee on reconciliation) submitted our report to the BoT. The board, in its wisdom, felt that to ask the chairman to resign at this time is like shooting your general at the point of going to war.

“The chairman of the party is the person, who leads the party to the campaign for the election. Therefore, it is inauspicious to ask him to step down at this time and the person, who will come will take time to understand the build-up we had in the past five months. It is difficult for us to change an executive we just elected in the middle of the campaign. Let us wait and win the presidency and Ayu will go.”
Nwodo maintained that timing was a crucial factor in politics.

He stated, “Of course, in politics, that is a great big mistake. Political expediency is tied up with timing. You have to time whatever you want to do in politics to resonate with the result you want. We believe that once we have a president in place, there is no way the chairman can remain in that zone.”